lets stick to english
2006-09-13 09:21:46 · 30 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
because, english itself is full of 'foreign' words and phrases! deja vu, manana etc are so commonly used nowadays that they are now in the english dictionary!!
besides, the 'english' language as we know it is actually made up of a lot of different words....latin, greek, french etc
if we didn't have those languages we wouldn't have 'proper' english.
...and then there's latin....would we have to change the wording of Law, Medicine, Horticulture etc?
besides, there are so many phrases and words in the english language that just don't translate well...such as:
'was that the phone?'
'did the door go there?'
'it's pi$$ing down out there'
'i'll be a monkey's uncle' !
try explaining those to someone learning english!! it's not exactly the easiest of languages to learn...and then of course, there's also the regional variations.
i do not understand italian...and yet somehow i could sit and listen to someone speak it for hours...it sounds so amazing.
it's these cultural diversities that make life so interesting.
the people that do not learn to speak other languages probably have no need to, and the ones who do have that need do learn, so it all works out anyway. we should never enforce our culture/opinions/language etc onto others.
after all, just like some folk here have suggested...how would you feel if you were told that the universal language was going to be mandarin or something?
2006-09-13 11:55:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If everyone did suddenly begin to speak the same
language it wouldn't remain the same language
indefinitely. In different parts of the world it would
diverge and after some generations we would be
back to a whole series of different languages
again. At present English is a native language or
second language for a great many people, and
the number seems to be constantly increasing.
Perhaps at some time everyone will be able to
speak English, but many of them will speak other
languages as well. In the United States we have
few people who can really speak any language other than English, unless they have recently come
from another country. On some islands in the
Pacific I have encountered teenagers who could
speak three or four different languages and didn't
think that was at all unusual.
Even now when you say someone speaks English
it doesn't mean he can be easily understood by
other English speakers. The English of either
Australia or Scotland, for example includes many
words that are quite different from the English of
the United States.
2006-09-14 14:27:49 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because all the countries would be at war about which language to use and most of the world would have to learn a whole new language. Maybe we should create a new language that we all have to learn. You could start it off!!!
2006-09-17 15:53:54 · answer #3 · answered by Dancing Queen 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We already do. Everyone in the world speaks English
Even Japanese, Koreans and Chinese speak English to each other because it's considered the language of the world.
2006-09-13 16:32:02 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because everyone would argue that theirs should be the language. look at the hoo har over the Euro.
And then you would get the nuts like the Welsh ( before anyone shouts I am Welsh) saying their language is ancient and should be preserved even though they are not speaking the same Welsh language as the ancients did. Politics politics! Nice idea in theory though
2006-09-13 16:31:40 · answer #5 · answered by Emma 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would make things a lot easier, I think that 1 day everybody will be speaking English. Well a desended language from English, it is preading fast will take a long time before it heppens though.
2006-09-13 16:24:48 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would be so boring. Remember, the Canadians, Australians, Americans and others share the same language but still have their own interpretation of that language, so any universal tongue would still have communication problems. No, let's celebrate difference.
2006-09-13 18:40:13 · answer #7 · answered by Purple 8 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Why English? What about other languages tht predated English...
2006-09-13 16:27:22 · answer #8 · answered by A 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i don't think everybody will start speaking english
it's like saying everybody will start speaking spanish
anyways , portugues , spanish ,italian , french, are cool languages , chines and etc.... so it would be impossible to make the whole world speak english only. it would be boring too.
2006-09-13 16:33:35 · answer #9 · answered by danielle 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
french would be better... thats what they use when languages are translated... like russian to french french to english...
but wouldnt that be boring... i love hearing people speak other languages... especially ones you dont here very much in america
2006-09-13 16:29:33 · answer #10 · answered by whaaatthe 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋